Waiting for the Minerva to come back, he casts a spells over the spot. Same as last time, nothing...no trace of curse or hex to be found.
"Severus! did Filius-?"
"No, I only happened upon the tail end of it." He stares at the floor looking for anything that could give him a hint. "Who?"
"Justin Finch-Fletchly was petrified,"
"Shit," McGonagall raises an eyebrow
"What?" Absently grabbing at his hair, he sucks in a breath.
"I need to speak to the Headmaster,"
"You can't now. He's talking to Mr. Potter," McGonagall appraises him, "What's happened,"
"I received a note, two days ago. It was his name," McGonagall smacks him on the shoulder.
"And you never thought to warn-"
"It's not like it said hey I'm going to kill Justin in two days, Minerva. I've had to try and shuffle at least twenty different stories just in the past two weeks. Five of them were because of your Weasley twins!" McGonagall still looks furious,
"You should've said something,"
"I did! I told Pomona," He presses his hand into his forehead,
"Oh" Apologizing with her eyes she steps beside him letting her aggressive posture fall. "Well, what do you think it means?"
"Most likely the Heir decided to brag and the wrong person heard it,"
"You think they were too scared to come forward?"
"Obviously," She purses her lips.
"Can we figure out who sent the note?"
"Maybe, I could try and compare the handwriting. It would take a while."
"That's a waste of time! You could ask them, individually and figure out who's-"
"If I had the ability to do that, do you think I wouldn't have taken the Heir out from the beginning? I'm trying, Minerva." The witch puts up her hands and when she speaks again her voice is considerably softened.
"Ok, what about the wards in your office."
"No!" His eyes pierce hers, she sighs.
"If we knew-"
"By respecting their wishes I keep the line of communication open. They write again and we'll have another lead." The coldness in his voice seems to suck all former warmth out of her's. She crosses her arms.
"Then we're stuck waiting."
"This child is scared." More speaking his thoughts aloud than defending himself he continues quietly. "There are some in Slytherin who would ridicule the student who tries to help the muggle-borns. They may think that by coming forward they will be expelled...at the very least they don't want detention."
"We obey the whims of a child too cowardly to face the consequences of saving lives!"
"Or they're afraid the monster will come for them next."
...
"Shut up!" Sarah jerks up, remembering herself just in time to not claw at Lydia. "What was that?"
"S-sorry," She whispers, rubbing her arms. "Nightmare."
"You didn't have nightmares last year," Emmeline says from the other side of the room. She looks mildly between her and Lydia. "Who's Tom?"
"No one,"
"Uh-huh, well don't let Tom interrupt my sleep again!" Lydia stalks across the room and climbs into bed. Augusta is also awake and stares with open irritation.
"I'm sorry," Augusta pulls her comforter over her head. Emmeline's the last and she bites her lip nervously before shrugging and turning on her side to sleep. The nightmare is still too present to let her try sleeping again. Sarah silently rises from her bed and crosses the dorm.
The common room is empty and she climbs the stairs to the tall shelves of books and the little window perfect for folding herself in thirds and staring into the lake from above her knees. A lantern ignites and she can see particles moving around.
There's got to be a way to stop them, and as soon as possible. God, Lydia's going to tell everyone tomorrow. What the hell is she going to do? The sun rises slowly and the few early risers start moving around. She smells coffee after while and an older student climbs the steps.
Immediately, she stops hugging herself and sits up straighter while trying to look as if she isn't watching the boy. He grins at her and holds out a cup.
"You were up before me, so I thought you might need this."
"Um, thanks," She says softly and takes the cup. The boy nods.
"Sugar and cream are at the table if you want it." He turns away and with little else to do, she follows him down the stairs.
Turns out her coffee deliverer is called Martin Rosier. He and several other older students are talking about O.W.L's. Sarah listens in and drinks her coffee resisting any urges to ask questions. Martin and a girl are arguing about whether it's pointless to become an Auror now that You-Know-Who's gone.
After finishing her mug, she creeps back into the dormitory and changes out of her pajamas. Upon returning the older students have gone and are replaced by Malfoy and a group of third-years. She moves by them quickly only to be called back,
"Checking on your brother, Potter?"
Not sure how exactly to respond after their weird interaction last night she mumbles, "No, just breakfast."
"Well, you'll have to show us how he fainted."
"Pass." She answers flatly and turns away walking through the wall. Before it closes again a high female voice sounds.
"She's odd, Draco." Her shoes echo across the stone passages and she almost sprints up the steps.
Defense Against the Dark Arts is first thing in the morning with the Hufflepuffs. Sarah spends most of the class with her attention divided between Professor Lupin and staring blankly at Arsenius Jigger's chapter on imps. She needs to do more. Technically she's more behind in this class than anyone else.
With this thought, she looks back at Professor Lupin as he produces a tank with a six-inch creature staring very indignantly at him. "Now who can tell me a close relative of the imps?" The room is quiet, one very plump Hufflepuff puts up a hand.
"Mr. Forest,"
"Fairies?" He smiles,
"Close, but not quite, anyone else?" Again silence. His eyes fall on her, and she looks back at the book.
"Yes, Miss Slinkhard?"
"Pixies,"
"Very good, now while more people consider fairies and pixies to be similar creatures, imps are actually much closer…" Her brain fills with white noise knocking Lupin's voice from her reality.
Her head aches and her eyes close.
THWACK
The room fills with laughter as her heart rate soars, it smells like a blackcat Dudley once put under her chair. Just to her left Lydia smugly pockets her wand with a wink.
"Quiet down," Lupin commands with a frown and walks over as she wills her pulse to slow. "Miss Potter, are you alright?"
"Fine," He looks very hard at Lydia but says nothing else.
"Alright, class I think that will do for today. Read the chapter on imps and summarize for me before our next class." With unnecessary haste, she shoves her book in her bag and is almost to the door.
"Miss Potter, if you could stay behind, please."
"Fuuuuuckkk,"
She turns back now against the tide of students leaving and jerks to the side to avoid them. Professor Lupin leans back against his desk as she makes her way forward.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep."
"It's quite alright. I think it's a sort of right-of-passage with most Professors." She purses her lips, waiting for what he really wants. "I thought you might like this," He holds out a shiny purple wrapper. "You seemed like a fan on the train."
"Oh, uh, thanks." A closer look proves it to be chocolate.
"You're welcome," She waits, and he smiles good-naturedly. "Still not poisoned."
"Good to know," He nods and turns back to his desk.
"Alright then, have a good day, Miss Potter." She blinks as he moves around his desk and sits.
He'd definitely wanted to ask her something. She'd seen it...no time to consider that. Sarah turns and walks back the way she came throwing one last look behind her to see him watching her.
"Great, another secret."
She jogs to Potions hoping that the fumes won't lull her back to unconsciousness. So of course they're starting off with Sleeping Draught. Sarah seats herself as far as possible from the front of the class and is followed by Ginny.
She's happy to see the chipper Weasley. Ginny hasn't given her a weird look once. Common sense tells her Ron at least hinted at what happened last year. Sympathy isn't the best, but it's preferable to the anger coming from most of the Slytherins.
As Snape starts the lecture, she pulls out the book noting that the author is the same as Professor Lupin's.
"Another reason not to trust him,"
She smiles a bit to herself and pulls up the chapter. She's one of the few who do. Everyone else is staring expectantly at Snape as he lectures on the different uses of valerian. Most are taking notes, but only a few Gryffindors have their books out. Curious, she looks at Ginny who only has parchment in front of her.
Asking seems stupid, so she sets the book to the side and listens carefully as he transitions into lavender and the
"Obvious complementary effects, it is not unusual for Sleeping Draughts to completely omit this ingredient, but the fools who fall prey to this potion go into a more sedated sleep. Less likely to make noise if you are trying to store a body."
She smirks to herself, Harry had told her about knocking out Crabbe and Goyle so they could interview Malfoy. Hermione must have just learned how to brew this. She'd have to ask how it had worked out for her.
"The instructions are on the board, this should take you no longer than forty minutes. Begin." Sarah pulls the book close as she can't quite read the board from her spot in the back. A look through and she immediately understands why no one else pulled out their books. The instructions are nothing like what Professor Snape gave them. Actually…
Sarah studies it a bit closer until Ginny digs her elbow into her shoulder.
"Get the sopophorous beans and flobberworm. I'll start on valerian."
"Ginny, this says that a proper Sleeping Draught takes over an hour." She raises an eyebrow and looks over the book.
"Huh, but this one doesn't have wormwood. Is there another?" Sarah looks through the pages.
"Yes, two, but they both say seventy minutes." She looks at the instructions, then at the book.
"Well, we better hurry up or that's how long this one's going to take." Ginny lights the cauldron. Sarah rises and makes her way to the front of the classroom taking time to really study the board as she grabs the ingredients.
"Move it, Potter!" Sarah looks down on Cadmus Prang as he tries to get at the flobber worms.
"Sorry," She says softly stepping to the side. Her pride burns a bit, but she lets it go. Ginny motions for her peal the bean as she adds the finely chopped sprig to the cauldron filled with crushed wormwood.
The smell of lavender does start weighing on her eyes as they add the beans to the cauldron, but it's not just her. Ginny yawns, as she stirs making Sarah yawn back. They break into quiet giggles, immediately stopping as Snape snaps his head towards them.
"Shh," Ginny hisses, Sarah rolls her eyes.
"He can eat a flobber worm." She says waving the used one into animation. This makes Ginny press her lips together to keep from laughing.
"Shut up," They finish the potion with a few minutes to spare. As she waits she takes a look at the book.
"A Sleeping Draught is considered one of the simpler potions. It is not recommended for those who have trouble sleeping." She grimaces and skips to the instructions.
"Valerian is essential for any Sleeping Draught. Mostly used as an anesthetic when doing painful procedures because it is the only ingredient that can guarantee sleep without permanent consequences."
Ok, basically what Snape said. She flips the page,
"Never rush a potion, the importance of letting ingredients fully develop inside your concoction cannot be overstated."
"Then why the hell is he making us do it wrong?"
After checking the potion one last time, she moves across the room with parchment in one hand and her quill in another. She sets it on the front table and copies the instructions down word for word.
Something on her wrist burns lightly. She turns her arm to investigate when Ginny yells "Oh!" The potion is seeping over the sides of the cauldron and onto the table.
Her legs are already running to move her stuff out of the way. The potion vanishes before it can hit anything, and Snape stands over the cauldron.
"Well?"
"I-I don't know. I was just um," Ginny looks down, turning red.
"Usually when dunderheads such as yourself experiment it's asphodel," His voice is soft, but she doesn't let her guard down for a moment. "Although such an ingredient would have caused a highly volatile potion with the potential to combust, it would not have been the stupidest thing I have ever seen. But why you would feel the need to add bubotuber pus, I cannot begin to fathom."
Ginny's the same shade as her hair.
"We didn't add bubotuber pus," Sarah says pointedly. He raises an eyebrow. "We followed the instructions exactly." His eyes dart towards the paper she holds then to her face.
"It started turning green as soon as you left. I don't know why." Ginny seems torn between looking defiant and innocent as Sarah looks into the cauldron. The potion is gone, but as she touches the edge a bit of green slime slides down the side. Understanding hits her as the burning on her wrist intensifies.
"It was me, Professor. I was just...experimenting...Like you said." It feels as if the entire room is pressed against her. Once again, Snape looks at her. First her eyes, then back down to her hand. She tries to subtly move it behind her back.
"Then it appears you have detention, Potter."
...
Ginny never asked why. She took their zero with a small bite to her lip before looking away. Sarah, to put it mildly, feels miserable.
There's a rather long list of people who would be willing to sabotage her.
"It must have been Camus," She murmurs to herself. While she'd like to blame Lydia, the girl had been nowhere near her potion or her during the class. Unless she used magic but that seems unlikely. Cadmus had the opportunity, and he certainly has a reason.
"Though I have no idea what that is."
Water worked well enough to clean her sleeve and the burning in her wrist has dulled down to a small pulse.
Sarah opens the grand doors to the courtyard and feels the sun hit her face. It's a bit colder than usual for September, but still comfortable enough to sit by the pillars and stretch out her arms. Everyone's at lunch, and for the first time since they left the Dursleys, she feels truly alone.
It's freeing. The wind, the birds, the swaying of the trees. She can bask in the absence of people forrrrr,
Her watch says one, o' five.
Maybe another twenty minutes here. Her eyes dart from one end to the other just to make sure no one's here then takes off. Her bag hits her leg with each step, so as soon as the courtyard's clear she throws it over her shoulder. Her feet fall into the usual rhythm, her breathing increases to the point that she gasping. Then she slows down to a jog. The lake is before her, she turns so that it's on her right, heading towards the forest. Once the treeline towers over her, she slows to a walk.
"Are you magic as well?" The trees don't answer her. The farther she walks in, the more sunlight becomes dappled splotches on the grass and twigs. In the very back of her mind, she hears Harry telling her about giant spiders, but the breeze whipping her hair up helps her push this away. A low limb blocks her path, so she vaults over it letting a smile brush her lips.
No Dursleys, no Snape, no one to look at her.
When she lands leaves crunch under her feet, she gives them a kick so they fly up. This time she keeps smiling and gathers a handful to throw above her and let them rain down.
"Maybe I should live out here," The trees say nothing, but a gust of wind blows the leaves up again. Sarah pulls her robe tighter. "Too bad I'm not a squirrel or something." Her watch says one forty. It's time to head back. With a parting kick to the leftover leaves, she leaps back over the branch and heads towards the light.
SNAP
She spins, trying to pinpoint the sound. Harry's stories are suddenly much closer than before.
"Voldemort was in these woods,"
Her breath hitches a bit before she can will her fear down. There's brush and a very large tree across from her. Past that, the forest gets very dark.
"Stop being stupid."
"Who's there!"
Nothing answers, her heart lifts as she remembers that she's not completely helpless, then sinks as she realizes her bag is back at the courtyard with her wand.
"Spiders and werewolves and Centaurs. Oh my."
Her heart pounding, she takes a step back, then another. There's a rock at her feet. She grabs it and tosses it at the brush. The twigs move several footsteps crunch on the leaves and a low growl seems to ooze from the shadows. A black shape emerges and Sarah falls backward in her haste to getaway.
"Shit!"
Her hand stings, but she ignores that while scrambling to her feet. Expecting to be attacked every second. When she looks back, she makes out a great black dog running towards the darkness.
"You coward," She mutters and walks back to the castle deciding not to tell anyone about her little excursion.
...
"We heard a little something," Sarah slams her book shut at the first whisper and turns to face the intruders.
"What would that be?" Fred looks at George, who rolls his eyes.
"We heard that someone pissed off Snape."
"Really," George nods, "Did your sister betray me?"
"Ginny? No, all the ickle firsties were blabbing."
"Second-year, now."
"Well, if you're shorter than Ron, you're firsties." He says with a dismissive shake of his hand. "Anyway, Fred and I were thinking you would like to know something."
"What was that?"
"Hold on, George, it was my idea!" Sarah waits patiently as they argue with shoves and scowls. Fred wins, by stepping forward and keeping George behind him.
"Lupin was talking about you!"
"Fred!"
"Professor McGonagall was telling him about Harry and the Whomping Willow when he asked about you." George spins free of his twin and kicks him in the back of the knee. Fred falls.
"He wanted to know everything about you. Classes, Quidditch, friends."
"And?" She asks nervously.
"McGonagall didn't say much, just that everyone had a hard time." George leaps to the side as Fred aims an elbow at his ribs.
"She saaaid," Fred straightens his shoulder with an indignant huff. "That if he wanted to know, he should ask you himself. She was stern,"
"Er." George finishes when she raises an eyebrow. "It was like she was lecturing us, you know."
"Ok, then what?"
"Oh, that wasn't enough for you?" Fred snorts,
"Do I need to go piss off Professor Flitwick to get the rest?"
"No," George answers immediately while Fred nods. "After that, they walked too far for us to hear."
"For you to hear." She turns to the nearly identical face and smirks.
"Yes, Fred."
"What?"
"You know you want to tell me." He rolls this over in his mind and shrugs. "I'd owe you one."
"Sarah, you really don't want to owe Fred anything," George warns. "He'll-"
"Deal," Fred jumps in before he can finish. Sarah takes his hand with a roll of the eyes. "While Georgie was off dealing with Wood I went behind the sheep portrait and found them again. Professor Lupin was saying something about his dad dying, then McGonagall apologized. Buuuut, he said that James would've wanted him to stay." The twin seems rather proud of himself.
"You're sure he said, James?"
"Yeah, then they started talking about roses so I left."
"Roses?"
"Yep,"
"Fred, what did he say about roses?" Fred shifts uncomfortably pressing his lips together
"Erm, I'm not. I think it was about,"
"Thorns?" George asks helpfully,
"No, dammit! What was it?" She sighs as he comes up with nothing.
"Nevermind, thanks for letting me know."
"What does roses mean to you?" George asks
"Nothing, really." They both look as if they don't believe the lie, but don't push her any farther.
She closes her eyes, considering the best course. Picks up her book and heads for Gryffindor tower.
…
The people in the picture beam at the camera, she's already spent time studying her mom and dad. It usually makes her sad, a year after the photo was taken her parents were three months away from being murdered. Harry liked looking at it because he could see himself in their dad. The newspaper hides the color of their mothers' eyes from them, but the expression still shines through the yellowing pages. Beautiful, their mother was beautiful.
But that's not why she asked Harry to bring out the photo album. No, it's the man next to her mother smiling at baby Harry then looking at the camera for a moment. There's no mistaking it, that's Professor Lupin. After telling Harry everything, yes everything. Snape, the debt, and what the Weasley's overheard he had agreed they should figure out this new mystery. "Together," He had emphasized.
She pulls the book closer and looks at the other pictures on the page, all of baby Harry with their parents. The next page is two photos, one of her mother holding a tiny baby while leaning back in a chair. The second is of two men, each holding a child. Harry's recognizable with his already messy black hair, reaching out towards the camera on the left. Then a baby screams in a man's arms. A haggard-looking man with patched robes.
Professor Lupin's holding her this time. What can it mean? If he was there for Harry and her then, wouldn't that…
She flips the pages over giving the pictures darting glances. Looking for the sandy hair, but that's not what catches her eye.
"Harry,"
"What?" He jerks up immediately, eyes full of concern.
"Tell me, who does this look like?" He walks over and studies the picture she's pointing at. Their father is standing with his arm around a man. A ruggedly handsome man with short black hair. She's seen his face in the album before, but in this light, with the white wood paneling offsetting his black clothes and hair she can see the color of his eyes. The line of his nose. The shape of his mouth. "A couple years older and with longer hair,"
"Sirius Black," Harry breathes looking between her and the pictures. "But what does-" She cuts him off turning the pages back over to Harry's baby photos. In the news clipping, they both stare dumbfounded at the man making faces at Harry. "But, what does that mean?" Sarah shakes her head.
"I don't know," He turns one more page and Sarah pushes it away as she recognizes the man holding Harry.
"Hang on, is that-"
"Professor Lupin, yeah." To her surprise, Harry smiles.
"Oh, that's, that's great. I like Professor Lupin, we can ask him."
"I don't know, I'm not sure about him." She sighs, "There's so much we don't know."
"We'll figure it out. Sarah. I promise."
"I want to figure it out quickly. I don't want to be surprised when it turns out that Lupin's actually Black's best friend and they're trying to kill us."
"Dumbledore wouldn't let that happen,"
"Dumbledore let you go after the Philosopher's Stone! I'm not going to stake our lives on what Dumbledore would let happen." He bites his lip and nods.
"Ok, but how are we going to figure out what's going on?" Sarah takes the book in her arms and hugs it close.
"Well, there are three people who definitely know something." Harry looks at the book.
"Lupin and Dumbledore, but who else?"
"Professor Snape, and you'll have to talk to him." He automatically shakes his head.
"No, no, no. There's no way I'm asking Snape for anything!"
"It has to be you. He despises me,"
"Yeah, well he hates me too, and you're the one who's good at this stuff."
"I've already tried that, it doesn't work on him. I'm going to try Professor Lupin, and you try Professor Snape." Harry shakes his head again. "Come on, Harry, he still technically owes me, but you guys are even now."
"Fine! But if he kills me, I'm haunting you."
"Do I get the Invisibility Cloak?" He smirks.
Sarah considers for the fiftieth time what Fred had said. Lupin started talking about roses, which would have been a strange transition for him and Professor McGonagall. It's not like either of them are Herbology teachers. It's possible Lupin has some kind of rose garden or something at home. Or maybe he gave his dad a rose after he died. But they had already been talking about her.
"I've always hated my middle name."
This has been way overdue, I got caught up in a writing-fit that doesn't have anything to do with this part of the series. I'd bake you sorry cookies if I had enough flour.
I do not own Harry Potter.
Thank you for reading!